From the Styx by Peggy Tibbetts

Who needs Big Brother on the TV when we have the Silt Town Board meetings? Monday (5/12) night’s meeting was action-packed. Some of us found it highly entertaining. For others it was like a train wreck, they just couldn’t turn away.

For whatever their reasons, like maybe people want to know what’s going on in town government, the public packed the chambers. Mayor Moore was the only absentee Board Member. Mayor Pro-Tem Robinson presided over the meeting.

Even though a public notice regarding the public hearing for High Point Ventures/Autumn Ridge was printed in the Post Independent 2 weeks ago, there was no public hearing for HPV/Autumn Ridge on the Agenda, which is what I reported last Thursday. Instead HPV/Autumn Ridge was listed on the Agenda as an “action item”, which meant the Board would be expected to take action on the matter, without a public hearing.

Early on during the “Potential conflicts of interest” discussion, Board members discussed a letter from the attorney for HPV/Autumn Ridge (Dave Moore) which each of them had received last Friday or Saturday. We were gone last weekend so Tod didn’t read the letter until Monday morning. I can’t remember the attorney’s name and I have not yet read the letter, although I have skimmed it. From my brief look, Tod’s description, and the Board discussion, evidently the attorney played out-of-context-theater with my blog. He lifted passages from my blog taken out of context to try to show that I have some sort of personal interest - other than the common public interest - in Autumn Ridge and therefore - wait for it - that means Tod has a conflict of interest regarding Autumn Ridge and must be recused from those discussions.

Say what?

Here’s what the Silt Home Rule Charter says about conflict of interest:

Section 1-17. Conflict of Interest. Neither the Mayor nor any Trustee shall vote or participate in discussion or deliberation on any question in which he or she has a substantial personal or financial interest, direct or indirect, including an interest held through a spouse or family member, other than the common public interest, or on any question concerning his or her own conduct.

I have no other interest in Autumn Ridge other than the common public interest. The people have the right to know what’s going on in town government.

So anyway, Tod said he wouldn’t recuse himself because my blog did not represent a conflict of interest on Autumn Ridge. The vote was split on whether to recuse him, so he wasn’t recused.

Next the Board discussed whether Tod had to recuse himself from the vote on the emergency ordinance to reimburse Mayor Moore for his campaign expenses because being on the Recall Committee represented a conflict of interest.

Tod said he wouldn’t recuse himself because the recall was all about the common public interest and therefore not a conflict. The vote was split again, so he wasn’t recused.

Later on, just before the HPV/Autumn Ridge presentation, the Board adjourned for a break while Town Attorney Duran left the room for a private meeting with representatives from HPV/Autumn Ridge. When the Board reconvened, Deric Walter for HPV/Autumn Ridge requested a continuance. He said that Tod wasn’t supposed to vote on recusal and since he did that invalidated the vote, therefore they prefer to wait until the matter of Tod’s conflict of interest because of my blog is resolved, meaning they don’t want Tod involved in any discussion or vote on Autumn Ridge.

It wasn’t clear from the discussion when HPV/Autumn Ridge will be on the Agenda again. I will post it here.

How did the reimbursement ordinance turn out?

It didn’t pass. Tod and Nicky Leigh voted against it. Meredith Robinson, Joe Sos, and Bobby Hays voted for it. Sonny Fernandez abstained. Because the reimbursement was presented as an emergency ordinance in order to pay Mayor Moore within the 45-day deadline stated in the state statute, passage required a super majority, meaning it had to pass by a quorum plus one – or 5 votes. The vote was 3 to 2. That’s a no go.

During the public hearing (before the vote), I handed out copies of the state statute, Mayor Moore’s flyer, and his newspaper ad. Then I said:

As a spokesperson for the Recall Committee, I represent the 227 voters who voted in favor of the recall. We say Mayor Moore does not qualify for reimbursement. Allow me to explain why.

Referring to the copy of the state statute I just handed out, you will see in paragraph 1, the statute says: “the municipality MAY repay the incumbent”. What this means is that the town has no obligation to repay Mayor Moore.

The second paragraph is the most important paragraph. The statute says: “Authorized expenses SHALL include, but are not limited to, moneys spent in challenging the sufficiency of the recall petition and in presenting to the voters the official position of the incumbent, to include campaign literature and advertising and the maintaining of a campaign headquarters”.

How we interpret this is that Mayor Moore’s campaign literature and advertising MUST respond to the issues of the recall, in order to have those expenses be eligible for reimbursement.

The Recall Committee provided solid evidence as proof of Mayor Moore’s employee meddling, his permit violations, his conflicts of interest, his ethics violations, his open meetings violations. However Mayor Moore failed to address any of those issues in his campaign literature, his mailings, his newspaper ads, or his signs.

Instead – as evidenced in this copy of his flyer – he listed his background and goals, took credit for actions by the Board as his own, and made false accusations.

Here is his newspaper ad, which simply gives instructions on how to vote.

We believe the intention of the statute is to allow for reimbursement of funds that a candidate spends while responding to the issues raised by the Recall Committee. During the entire campaign, Mayor Moore never responded to the specific evidence presented by the Committee.

Yet clearly paragraph 2 in the statute requires him to respond in order to qualify for reimbursement.

Therefore, Mayor Moore does not meet the requirements of the statute. And the Town of Silt is not obligated to reimburse Mayor Moore. The voters did not vote on reimbursement. In fact 43% voted to recall Mayor Moore. The Board of Trustees represents ALL the voters of Silt – not just some.

The Board should not vote in favor of reimbursing Mayor Moore. 

Manufactured housing ordinance passed

In other news, Ordinance 12 to allow for manufactured housing that meets Silt codes passed unanimously. An odd thing happened during the public hearing. Town Attorney Duran read a statement from Mayor Moore voicing his opposition to the ordinance, even though Moore wasn’t present. I’ve never seen anything like that happen before.

What about free speech?

In this soap opera that is the Silt Town Board, who knows what will happen next? Will Tod be recused from the HPV/Autumn Ridge matter because of my blog? Are we attached at the hip? Should we even be sleeping together? Should we end this relationship? What about the children? Won’t somebody please think of the children?

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